Why Apple Needs to Pay More Attention to Product Reliability

News Analysis: Reports of exploding iPhones, overheating batteries and hard drive noises are raising concerns about Apple's reputation for quality and reliability. The problems reported so far aren't enough to shake the confidence of Apple's fans. But such problems could end up spoiling even Apple's brand reputation if it doesn't improve product quality down the road.

Exploding iPhones, overheating, Bluetooth
problems, hard drive noises. What is going on at Apple? The company that
provides a premium product at a premium price has experienced so many hardware
issues over the past few weeks that it's becoming a real concern.

Apple's troubles don't end there. On Aug. 19, Apple
announced several fixes for its MacBook Pro. The Bluetooth Firmware Update
2.0.1 improves Bluetooth functionality for users who have experienced
interaction issues between peripherals and their Macs. The Hard Drive Firmware
Update 2.0 reduces the noise users have heard from the MacBook Pro's data storage
disk. Apple said the noises were "infrequent" and they didn't cause
harm. That said, the company did admit that the noises were annoying and needed
to be addressed.

Although it's nice to see Apple addressing all these problems, it's difficult
to see why users were forced to experience them in the first place. Apple
provides premium products. It offers those premium products at a premium price.
When users go to the store to buy a MacBook Pro or an iPhone, they expect a
superb product for the amount of cash they need to lay out. They don't expect
to deal with the various hardware issues that have cropped up during the past
few weeks.

Admittedly, Apple isn't alone. Early adopters are all too aware of the perils
that come with new hardware. When tech companies release products on the open
market, those products sometimes haven't been tested as well as they could have
been. Issues that the company missed stay in the final product. They're only
witnessed when users start getting their hands on the respective devices. It's
a common issue in the tech space. Apple isn't unique.

But exploding and overheating iPhones are serious problems. They're not simple
design issues. They're not battery problems that can be easily fixed. They're
not even loud hard drives. Explosions shouldn't happen once, let alone multiple
times. And overheating can be extremely dangerous to the person holding the
iPhone.

Don Reisinger is a freelance technology columnist. He started writing about technology for Ziff-Davis' Gearlog.com. Since then, he has written extremely popular columns for CNET.com, Computerworld, InformationWeek, and others. He has appeared numerous times on national television to share his expertise with viewers. You can follow his every move at http://twitter.com/donreisinger.